“Sloppy,” “The Never Trump Caucus,” And “Squishy Establishment RINOS”: How Republicans Spent The Week Attacking Their #OHSEN Candidates
October 8, 2021
October 8, 2021
Happy Friday, and welcome to another edition of “Buckeye Brawl,” a weekly newsletter from the Ohio Democratic Party highlighting the nasty, chaotic, and expensive Republican primary for Senate. This out-of-control primary is making conservatives “deeply worried” about the prospects of Republicans losing this seat.
As the Republican Senate primary continues to sink lower and lower, these GOP candidates are injecting even more nasty personal attacks, more chaos and more money into this race. We’re here to help you keep track of all of it. Here’s what you may have missed:
VANCE IS “SLOPPY.” After J.D. Vance made disgusting comments about rape, Bernie Moreno made the understatement of the year when he told Breitbart that it was “sloppy” of Vance to use that word. Moreno also said that Vance could have clarified by saying that “rape is vile,” but Vance refused to do so.
THE NEVER-TRUMP CAUCUS. Following Evan McMullin’s announcement he is challenging Mike Lee for Senate in Utah, Josh Mandel went after J.D. Vance for his prior support of McMullin in 2016. He tweeted, “JD Vance’s 2016 presidential candidate is now running for senate to join him in the Never-Trump caucus.” He went on to share a clip of Vance trashing Trump and called Vance a “condescending elitist.” Mike Gibbons consultant Kory Wood also went after Vance, quote tweeting the McMullin announcement and saying, “Paging J.D. Vance.”
RINO RIDDANCE. In an interview with the Butler County Republican Party, Josh Mandel said he is running to rid the Republican Party of RINOS like Jane Timken and J.D. Vance. He went on to call them both “squishy establishment RINOS” and said he wants them out of the GOP altogether. He then attacked the rest of the field for not following him down the Big Lie conspiracy rabbit hole enough, saying, “I’m the only candidate out here talking about how the election was stolen from Donald Trump.”
SITTING ON THE SIDELINES FOR TRUMP. In what should have been a #WaybackWednesday tweet, Jane Timken went after Josh Mandel and J.D. Vance for their record with Trump. She tweeted, “While other candidates sat on the sidelines or hadn’t yet decided to fight for the America First agenda, I was working hard to deliver for President Trump and for Ohio.” Timken is now having to double down on her record with Trump after losing his endorsement because she said Rep. Anthony Gonzalez had a “rational reason” to impeach Trump after the insurrection.
NEVER TRUMPERS LOVE J.D. VANCE. Josh Mandel continues to find ways to bring up J.D. Vance’s anti-Trump past in the present. In an interview with Newsmax, Mandel said Vance “gets a lot of love from Never Trumpers.” This follows Mandel last week tweeting, “If the election were held today in Hollywood, Silicon Valley, Wall Street and DC, Never-Trumper JD Vance would run away with it. If the election were held today in Ohio he’d get crushed.”
Thanks for reading along – that’s all for the Buckeye Brawl this week. If you have questions, my email is [email protected]. Have a great weekend!